Defending Tobacco Free Florida

posted by Rick Flagg -
Mar 15, 2018

Supporters of the Tobacco Free Florida campaign, including some veterans of Florida's "tobacco war" of the 1990s, are calling for the defeat of a constitutional amendment that they say would take away their funding.

Proposition 94 would reportedly shift money from Florida's legal settlements with big tobacco from the state's education and prevention campaign and into cancer research.

Heather Youmans, at the American Cancer Society, says the state gets more bang for the buck by focusing on prevention.

"By reducing the rate of tobacco addiction and use we also reduce the economic impact on Florida's health care costs," she said. "We shouldn't divert money the citizens of Florida have set aside specifically for tobacco education and prevention. These funds are critical, and they provide the state's biggest return on investment."

Florida has one of the lowest smoking rates in the country and Youmans says that has saved the state billions of dollars in health care costs.